Darknet carding sites have become a hotbed for cybercriminals looking to profit off stolen credit card information. These underground websites offer a platform for individuals to buy and sell stolen credit card details, often using cryptocurrencies to maintain anonymity. While the allure of easy money may be tempting, participating in carding activities on the darknet comes with significant risks and consequences.
What are Darknet Carding Sites?
In April 2020, the independent Android app store Aptoide suffered a data breach. The incident resulted in the exposure of 20M customer records which were subsequently shared online via a popular hacking forum. Impacted data included email and IP addresses, names, IP addresses and passwords stored as SHA-1 hashes without a salt. In March 2021, news broke of a massive data breach impacting millions of Adecco customers in South America which was subsequently sold on a popular hacking forum. The breach exposed over 4M unique email addresses as well as genders, dates of birth, marital statuses, phone numbers and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes.
Darknet carding sites are online platforms that facilitate the buying and selling of stolen credit card information. These websites operate on the dark web, a part of the internet that is not indexed by traditional search engines and offers a high level of anonymity to its users. Transactions on these sites are often conducted using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, making it difficult to trace the identity of those involved.
The Dangers of Engaging in Carding Activities on the Darknet
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- Legal Consequences: Participating in carding activities on the darknet is illegal and can result in severe legal repercussions. Law enforcement agencies actively monitor these sites and work to shut them down, leading to arrests and prosecutions of those involved.
- Financial Loss: Buying stolen credit card information from darknet carding sites puts you at risk of financial loss. If caught, your accounts could be frozen, and you may be held liable for any fraudulent charges made using the stolen cards.
- Identity Theft: When you engage in carding activities on the darknet, you are contributing to the proliferation of identity theft. The victims of these crimes often face significant challenges in recovering their stolen information and restoring their financial security.
- Cybersecurity Risks: Visiting darknet carding sites exposes you to cybersecurity risks, as these websites may contain malware or phishing scams designed to steal your personal information.
This data was provided to HIBP by whitehat security researcher and data analyst Adam Davies. In November 2021, web host ZAP-Hosting suffered a data breach that exposed over 60GB of data containing 746k unique email addresses. The breach also contained support chat logs, IP addresses, names, purchases, physical addresses and phone numbers. In July 2012, Yahoo! had their online publishing service “Voices” compromised via a SQL injection attack. The breach resulted in the disclosure of nearly half a million usernames and passwords stored in plain text. The breach showed that of the compromised accounts, a staggering 59% of people who also had accounts in the Sony breach reused their passwords across both services.
The Secret Service had to continue to do forensic work to build a case against Roman. First they saw that 2pac.cc website had no admin activity since the date of Roman’s arrest. He wasn’t just searching for his name either but all his aliases and old names like Bulba and nCux.
Whilst the scraping did not constitute a data breach nor did it access any personal data not intended to be publicly accessible, the data was still monetised and later broadly circulated in hacking circles. The scraped data contains approximately 400M records with 125M unique email addresses, as well as names, geographic locations, genders and job titles. LinkedIn specifically addresses the incident in their post on An update on report of scraped data. In January 2016, the Minecraft community known as Lifeboat was hacked and more than 7 million accounts leaked. Lifeboat knew of the incident for three months before the breach was made public but elected not to advise customers.
In January 2021, the quiz website Daily Quiz suffered a data breach that exposed over 8 million unique email addresses. The data also included usernames, IP addresses and passwords stored in plain text. In May 2017, font sharing site DaFont suffered a data breach resulting in the exposure of 637k records. Allegedly due to a SQL injection vulnerability exploited by multiple parties, the exposed data included usernames, email addresses and passwords stored as MD5 without a salt. In May 2022, the client management system for the Australian government’s NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) suffered a data breach which was subsequently posted to an online hacking forum. The CTARS cloud platform is used by care providers to record information about NDIS participants and often contains sensitive medical information.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is it safe to use darknet carding sites?
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A: No, engaging in carding activities on the darknet is highly risky and illegal.
Q: Can I get caught for using darknet carding sites?
What can be found on deep and dark web credit card shops?
A: Yes, law enforcement agencies actively monitor these sites and can track down individuals involved in illegal activities.
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Q: What should I do if I come across a darknet carding site?
- The incident exposed 92 million unique user accounts and corresponding MD5 password hashes.
- The incident impacted multiple separate online assets owned by the company, the largest of which was the Adult FriendFinder website alleged to be “the world’s largest sex & swinger community”.
- Within 12 hours of the breach, the cashers were able to hit 280 cities, cashing out for more than nine million dollars total.
- The breach exposed over 4M unique email addresses as well as genders, dates of birth, marital statuses, phone numbers and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes.
- Chatter on stolen data forums makes this sentiment all too clear; consumers are quick to label new vendors a ‘scam’ and suspect foul play as soon as their deposit arrives mere moments too late.
A: Report the website to the appropriate authorities and avoid interacting with it to protect yourself from legal and cybersecurity risks.
Overall, the lure of easy money on darknet carding sites may seem appealing, but the risks far outweigh the potential rewards. It’s essential to steer clear of these illegal activities and protect yourself from the dangers associated with engaging in carding on the darknet.
